Packers/Giants Pre-Preview

Thought I’d offer up some thoughts on the game far in advance and then some closer to game-time as my feelings about a game seem to evolve throughout the course of the week.

I’m just not worried about the Giants like I feel I should be. Their O-Line has been dominant. Manning and his WRs have looked really good and Bradshaw and Jacobs are finally getting into the action. And the rise of their D-Line is bringing back bad memories of 2007 for Packer fans. But I’m just not that worried.

The Giants have been up and down this year and this latest rally probably wouldn’t have happened had either of the last 2 games been on the road. They aren’t a great home team either, but I think they really fed off the energy of their home crowd in the last two games and they won’t have that advantage this week.

If I were Coach McCarthy, I would put together a 1/2 hr video with of Eli Manning looking like a loser after a poor play – whining, Brandon Jacobs being disgruntled, their punter deciding himself to fake a punt and having it fail, Hakeem Nicks dropping easy TD passes and of course a number of highlights of their defensive deficiencies (especially LBs and secondary) earlier this year. Maybe throw in a highlight from the 2010 season of DeSean Jackson running back the punt to eliminate the Giants. The segue between all the clips would be Tom Coughlin’s trademark bewildered expression – the one he sports so often when something goes wrong. The goal of doing this would be to remind Packer players that this NYG’s team is not far removed from some seriously shoddy play and plenty of internal turmoil. (Coughlin was on the hotseat earlier this year – remember?) While they are riding some very positive momentum presently, it could take just 1 or 2 big turnover plays or other huge errors on their part to set them far enough back mentally to interfere with their ability to compete. The Packers don’t have that problem right now.

The LBs and DBs for the Giants are just not good. When their pass rush is awesome, it can distract folks from the incompetence of the rest of the D (like yesterday vs Atlanta). So yes, if we allow their pass rush to be too disruptive, we could struggle some. But we can’t forget that overall this unit finished the regular season as the #27 overall defense in yards allowed, #29 in pass yards against and #19 in rushing yards against. This is not a good defense and while Rodgers may get sacked and hit a few times, our offense should be able to march right through the Giants’ D.

I can’t explain why I am so convinced of this, but I believe the Packers’ defense will be the story of the playoffs. And not a bad story. The unit has been awful this year – averaging more yards allowed per game by the defense than the counterpart offense gains on average. But it has also had moments of quietly stepping up at big times. There is just something different about the playoffs and I think this defense will tighten up and make it very difficult for Eli and company to move the ball.

Dom Capers better have some backup plans in case we’re not getting enough pressure on Eli (like trying So’oto at ROLB, moving Bishop to ROLB, trying Francois at ROLB, pulling Woodson out of coverage to be a roving presence/always a threat to blitz like Polamalu, other weird blitz looks, etc, etc.) Pressuring Eli will be a huge part of this game. Odd then that I’m so confident the D will play well Sunday when pressuring the QB has been a big problem this year. I guess I just think guys like Raji, Matthews, Bishop and Woodson will be quite disruptive Sunday.

I do hope that McCarthy and the offense have been working on screen passes, play action and the running game. The Giants pass rush is so aggressive that with some crafty dump passes over and around the NYG D-Linemen, or some sneaky running plays, the Pack can quickly temper that aggressiveness. If they have the chance to straight rush as Rodgers sits in the pocket, we could be in trouble.

I don’t see this being an especially high scoring game like a few weeks back. I can see the Pack maybe having 27 or 28 points and the Giants having 13 or 14 or so.

I think if you boil all the match-ups down the Packers have the advantage on almost every level except one. This game comes down to how the Packer five offensive lineman block the now healthy and productive front four the Giants defense. If the Giants can get after Rodgers with four and are allowed to drop 7 into coverage this game will be a tough slog just like the KC game. I imagine that MM can schematically limit the front four of the Giants. Draw plays, screens, play-action etc…Of course, all of that works better if you can win first down with some decent running or short effective passing.

Sunday night, I hated this match-up for the Packers – a day later and I’m now feeling confident. The o-line is healthy. They have had two weeks to add wrinkles and plays not on tape. I think the Packers roll in this game.

I feel like the Giants are probably the most dangerous NFC team for the Packers. They can score points, and they’re used to being in situations where the need to battle to get back in the game.

I don’t see this being an especially high scoring game like a few weeks back

Well, maybe. I think if the Pack doesn’t want another game that comes down to the last possession, they need to keep scoring on offense until they’re up by at least 3 scores. They were down by 11 in the 3rd quarter of the regular season meeting, and came back to tie. Unlike the Falcons, this is not a team that gives up just because they fall behind.

i live near nyc and just heard pierre paul being interviewed on the radio. not. a. smart. man.

mccarthy talks about being the hunter rather than allowing yourself (as sb champ) to always be the hunted.

i say do whatever it takes to be on the offensive against this d-line – make them look dumb and take them out of their gameplan. if that’s screens, chipping them from all angles with different personnel, whatever. maybe untie their shoes. get them frustrated early.

if we accomplish that, all that’s left is the giants secondary, which is not much left.

i too started out the week ‘worried’ about this matchup. after listening to the idiots in ny for two days, and knowing that the packers have the right attitude, i’m ready for a whole lot of manningface.

nice joshy. looking forward to both manningface and coughlinlook. Nice Old Man Injury by the way. You are definitely getting to the age where you need to be concerned about things you’ve never been concerned about before.

I would love to see Dom come up with a all LBer front in the nickel in obvious passing situations that features So’oto and Matthews as down pass rushers with Bishop and Hawk as the OLBs and DJ Smith and Francois at ILB.

After rewatching the games that Smith and Francois filled in for Bishop and Hawk I can say those guys both deserve to be on the field in some way shape or form. I would easily start either one of them over Hawk if I had the choice. Both of those guys play way more physical than Hawk and frankly they can blitz and cover more effectively too.

Im not sure I can think of one reason other than experience and salary where Hawk deserves to be starting over these two guys.

Hope Hawk proves me wrong and has a big game but I just don’t see it happening,